Debby Yoder, Contributor

Saturday, October 13, 2012

"Stay the Nite, or Stay Forever...Free Wi-Fi"

Posted by Debby Yoder,
DOUGLASVILLE, GA -- For years I have driven by the extended stay hotels in my
community and pondered about the people who occupy the rooms. There is little
industry or tourist appeal here, so the large number of hotels has always
puzzled me. I assumed the rooms were typically vacant, and the occasional
guests were people visiting family, friends, or those whose employment required
they work away from home for a lengthy period. But then I found out that the individuals
and families who live in these hotels call them home -- a trend on the rise
since the housing bust. I always wondered why there were storage facilities in such
close proximity. I also wondered whether one could receive mail there, or use
the location’s address to register children in school, little things like that
which most of us take for granted.

The answers turned out to be
yes, and the hotel industry -- at least in the greater Atlanta Metro Region -- loves the extended stay concept. These hotels
have unusually high occupancy and tend to raise rates more often than
traditional hotels. But this doesn't mean it's like staying at the Ritz Carlton
(watch out for the bedbugs for one thing). You can get a weekly rate of $154,
no deposit required, no questions asked...well, as long as you hand over the
cash. This attracts all sorts of people -- families who can only find part-time
employment; day laborers, immigrants, parolees, and anybody else who just can't
afford to pay a security deposit on a rental apartment.

Hotel managers look the other
way when it comes to how many people are staying in a room, as well as a number
of other things a landlord might want to know. You could say, "well, at
least these residents are not out on the street." True, at least for a
week. But the irony is that the weekly rate, on average, translates to just
over $600 (plus taxes) per month. However, there are many apartment complexes
around the region where you can rent something for less. The problem is the
background and credit checks, the number of people, and the ability to come up
with two month's rent for the deposit. While there might be some rather unsavory
characters putting down temporary roots at these hotels, there are also many
law-abiding citizens who simply have no other choice. So the other irony is
because they are paying a weekly rate that may increase at anytime, it can be
very difficult to save up for that elusive security deposit.

Now when I pass these
extended stay hotels, I know that the occupants are not simply visiting family
for a few days or are out-of-state people with temporary employment here. It also makes me wonder why the Atlanta region
is thought to have a 'soft' rental market when so many people cannot afford
housing, and it makes me wonder why we don't have more affordable housing
programs for individuals and families in these situations.

Debby Yoder is a contributor to Social Shutter as well
as a student at Georgia State University. She can be reached at
debby.yoder@gmail.com.

4 comments:

A similar trend has occurred in the Baltimore and Washington areas as housing prices and apartment rents have risen. Small, independent motels along US 1 between Baltimore and Washington and along US 301 in Southern Maryland have become residential/extended stay motels. In Howard County, MD (where I live-- one of the wealthiest counties in the country) these motels offer one of the few options for low-income families who cannot afford rents, security deposits, etc., just as you have described. As the County has embarked on an effort to revitalize and "clean up" the US 1 corridor, a number of small mobile home parks have closed, shutting off one option for low-income individuals and families. While I don't have any data, the closure of these mobile home parks must have pushed individuals and families into residence in the motels.

Just a follow-up on my comment above. A couple poems I've written as part of a series of poems describing US 1 in Howard County contain references to these sorts of motels and the trend you've described. The first, "Jessup," was published in 2006 in You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography. The second, "The Tire Swing," as been accepted for publication in the upcoming issue of the Loch Raven Review. Both can be found on my blog at http://skiminocycle.blogspot.com/2011/02/jessup.html and http://skiminocycle.blogspot.com/2010/10/tire-swing.html

An interesting aside about this is that, when I worked for the census, hotels are not counted as homes with permanent residents. Rather, they assume that those who are staying in them will report at the home base. There was a committee that moved around within the communities of people who were experiencing homelessness to attempt to count those individuals, but I don't recall them doing that with hotels. This is something that should be accounted for in the 2020 census, as this is where federal dollars come from, and missing so many people would leave the state way under budget. Great article!

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